I fell off the universe

So I haven't blogged in awhile, but it is with good reason. Well first off I kept my niece like the last post said then there was Thanksgiving with family and you can't really get around to writing a blog with that much food around and then I got home and "it" hit me. "It" being the sickness that left me begging for relief for four days. Somehow I got a fever and a congestion so bad that the nurse at the doctor's office said it was the worst congestion she has heard in awhile. That is comforting. So thankfully Tuesday the doctor gave me some meds and I rested a little more and by Wednesday the fever was gone and the sore throat was feeling a little better. I still sound like I am pinching my nose if you talk to me on the phone and you don't want to know how much kleenex I go through, but I am on my way to recovery.

Hanging out with Baby Pressley

My sister had a conference to go to today and tomorrow in Columbia. So she brought my niece with her and I am getting to keep her for two days. If this would have happened three months ago I would be clueless on how to keep a baby, but since moving to Charlotte I learned how to change a diaper and be a little more natural around kids.

I am figuring out:
1. that you can't do much until it is naptime.
2. you better be good at doing stuff with one hand and a baby on the other hip.
3. that if you didn't have a baby in front of you some of the faces and sounds you make would be pretty embarrassing.
4. that bringing a baby to a new place means lots and lots of bags and hardly any of it is the mom's stuff.
5. being entertained by a toy only lasts for a few seconds.

I think I am well on my way to understanding the babies. Good times.

A logo on the side of the building

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to be part of Palmetto GBA's pie rally in order to celebrate their new brand look. What is interesting about all this is the fact that about a year ago Chris How (Palmetto GBA's web designer) and I worked on about 50 logos hoping one would get picked. As a graphic designer you think that the logo that will get picked will be the one you spent the most time on or that you were just really inspired with. But in this case the logo that was picked was my 11th hour logo. We actually had a meeting about which logos we would present to our company's president and one hour before that meeting I came up with my last logo and somehow everyone liked it.

Needless to say after about a year when they had the unveiling of the logo I was really excited. I have never had a logo that I designed roll off the side of a building. It was huge. I didn't bring my camera since I messed that up, but my boss George Nicholson had his and took some pictures of our design team.


(Chris How, George Nicholson, and me)


(The logo off the side of the building)


(Logo up close)

The Ball

Now that I am working from home I have taken over our one armchair and my storage ottoman has become the home of my computer and freaking awesome external hard drive. The armchair and ottoman are perfectly positioned in front of our sliding glass doors that lead to outside. And outside is Scooter.

Quick backstory...Scooter may really have an obsessive compulsive disorder. His first toy as a little puppy was a squeaky ball. I feel like his thought process with the ball may be as follows: "Oh my, it is my ball" "Is my tail waving fast enough to show my excitement to everyone?" " Wait, I caught a whiff of the ball over here...I can actually smell the trail!" "AHHHHH....the smell is glorious." (the AHHHH in my world is this ear piercing bark followed by smaller barks and this happens over and over again) So somewhere along the way any ball became this crazy obesessive toy. For awhile he got so crazy that balls were banned from our house. (It's a long story)

So back to my armchair. I sit working on my computer with my back to the sliding door. Then I hear a faint whimper which turns into a loud high pitched cry then on to a manic scratching on the door that makes me feel like any moment Scooter could bust down the door. So I put my computer down look over my shoulder and there he is. I walk to the door. He doesn't want to come in. He doesn't need anything. He drops the ball at my feet and gets a running start for the ball to come sailing to him through the air. And this happens maybe about 20 times during my workday.

Material Possession

Don't you hate it when you have some material possession that you like a lot and then you do something completely stupid and you get so upset but the only person responsible for messing it up in the first place is yourself?! Yep, that happened the other day to me. Last Christmas, Wade got me this macdaddy, awesome camera. I loved it. It was perfect since I was trying to get into photography more and it was a digital slr and had the most amazing picture quality. I have taken many a pictures with it and made a design out of it. So the other day I decided to get out my camera so Wade and I could take it to Uptown Charlotte and we could take some fun pictures. The battery was running low so I decided to charge it and I saw this other battery laying there. Since it was in my camera bag I decided it must be already charged and put it in. However, it was the wrong battery for the camera. I could smell this faint burning smell and Wade eventually got it out. But when I put the correct battery back in, the camera didn't work. So the limited warranty won't be effective since I messed it up myself! It is a very good lesson about materialism though. Yes, it is great to have a camera and it is good to use it since it cost a lot, but it is something that can be replaced or possibly fixed. I almost had a little pity party for myself, but Wade helped me through it. I realized there is absoultely no reason to let some small object like my camera cause me to break down.

Buck Teeth

Creative advertising can certainly put you ahead of your competitors. And it doesn't matter what kind of company you are...it is still important to think outside of the box.Take for example a doctor who specializes in children's teeth. I mean you would think their advertising would be a tooth for a magnet. Or maybe even some smiley face stickers or something. But this guy steps out and does this.



The orthodontist handed out these pacifiers to mothers and attached to it was his business card with a line saying get your child's teeth checked before it is too late. A interesting mix of something funny, but thought provoking. And if you were one of those moms you probably dialed his phone number immediately.

Is it bad that when I have kids I want to have a pacifier like this? I would laugh all the time!